death isn't something you can get used to
by Caelitea
Summary: Minako Arisato doesn't think it's possible; Minato Arisato begs to differ. But this is Minako's first experience with death, and it most certainly won't be her last. —Minako/Minato


**Notes: **Hmmm. I feel like there are a few kinks in this I can work out, but...I'm not really sure how to go about that for now so I guess I'll just leave it as is.

Although I definitely feel like I am writing about a lot of similar themes hahaha.

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"_Death isn't something you can get used to!"_

"_I beg to differ."_

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><p>They sit neat the fountain, the girl with an ice cream cone in hand, the boy with a music player in his.<p>

They sit in silence for a moment, before the girl with chocolate hair and cherry eyes glances over and takes the decision to speak.

"So? You know what I want to ask."

The boy with cobalt hair and silver eyes glances back to her, his face expressionless, before going back to his music player, scrolling through the songs.

The girl with red eyes is not discouraged; she licks her ice cream cone, savors the strawberry flavor for a moment, and presses on.

"Minato-kun, come _on_, it's been months, don't you think you can tell me at least this? Don't you trust me?"

The boy doesn't respond for a good number of minutes.

"You didn't expect that I would let this go, right? We're not related in any way, but our names are way too similar and we even share the last name! Minato Arisato and Minako Arisato—if that's not weird enough, what about our wild card ability, and the Velvet Room, and Orpheus, and _Pharos_?"

Nope, she has no intention of giving up. The boy, Minato Arisato, knows way too much about the Dark Hour and Tartarus and the Shadows, more than Mitsuru-senpai and Akihiko-senpai put together, and they were the first to discover it. Besides, they hold so many similarities it's creepy. Especially Pharos, who no one else sees, like the Velvet Room.

The blue-haired boy still doesn't respond, and the girl huffs in annoyance.

Another number of minutes pass.

"Minako," he suddenly says, his voice deep, smooth, and slightly mysterious.

The girl glances at him, a small pout on her face, expectant.

"Trust has nothing to do with it."

Her cherry eyes flash, because she wants more information than this, and besides, she mentioned trust way in the beginning of this conversation!

Minato glances at her, blinks, but doesn't look away.

Minako's expression drops into a more serious one, because the look in his eyes say that he is beginning to say something important.

"Can you get used to death?" He asks her then, and the question startles her, but she answers with knit eyebrows and a small huff again.

"Death isn't something you can get used to!"

"I beg to differ."

She falls quiet. He doesn't say anything more, and waits. Her eyes are downcast, trying to process the meaning behind the question, testing possibilities in her head. He turns back to his music player in the meanwhile, leans back, and observes the clouds in the sky.

"…What do you mean?" She finally asks, and when he turns back, her ice cream cone is gone and she is sitting with her hands clasped together, as if she is afraid of his answer.

He draws out the silence before he answers. They have not exchanged many words (though Minako has said plenty, it's just him that has been dragging out the conversation, to her frustration), but the conversation has taken at least an hour at this point.

He observes the sky for a few more seconds before looking at her, not turning his head.

"This won't be my first time fighting Nyx."

"_WHAT?"_

Her explosive voice makes the others at Paulownia mall turns towards them, but he simply yawns, ignoring their stares, and Minako's incredulous face, for that matter.

"But—how is that even—I mean, I guess it explains why you know so much, but I mean, _how—_?"

He knew this would happen, it's too complicated to explain, besides, it's not really an explainable concept.

Minato yawns again, and stands up.

"You'll see."

Minako gets up and trots after him, a pout on her face as she tried to decipher his cryptic information without success.

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They rise up to the sky, they suffocate in darkness.

(Her heart is pounding, but at least she isn't alone, and she knows that this is what she has to do—)

The girl with cherry eyes looks over at her silver-eyed partner, and while she is clammy and highly nervous, his face is at ease, almost bored, even when they are reduced to their knees, energy sapped to nothing, and she wants to cling onto him and cry and ask how the hell can he be so confident.

(But then there is that one moment of dazzling hope, and they reach out to grab it—)

It all ends in light, but later, two messiahs disintegrate into darkness.

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She wakes up on a train, and she's not sure where the train is going so she looks around.

Minako is startled by the familiar place, and then she is startled that she is alive at all.

"_What...?"_

She remembers this train, she remembers where the train is headed, the path that it is taking.

Familiar music plays in her ears, and it is even the same time.

Minato is looking out the window, one elbow propped up on the seat, chin resting in his palm. The lights pass by like alien worms—neon green, bright pink, fluorescent orange.

He slides his silver eyes over to her again, and her eyes are brimming with tears. She grabs his hand, he squeezes back for her comfort.

"Can you get used to death?" He asks her once more.

She shakes her head, opens her mouth, closes it. Wonders for a moment. Looks down. "Death isn't something you can get used to…!" But she says this weakly, her voice breaking.

He closes his eyes. "I beg to differ." He says, repeating the familiar words softly.

Minako looks at the clock, at the date on her cell phone. It has rewinded, they are back to day one, and suddenly everything makes sense, why the boy next to her knew everything.

(How many times has this happened in order for him to make friends with death?)

But death doesn't get any easier, at least, not for her, not right now. She moves closer to him, makes herself comfortable by his side, because she wants to feel his warmth and not the chilling hands of darkness.

He asks one last time. "Can you get used to death?"

The tears fall, and she closes her eyes, bringing her hands up to cover her face, to hide her grief and shame that she can't be as strong as he can, and her mind reels at the fact that he has relived the same thing over so many times.

"No. Not now," she whispers brokenly, "Not today."

He leans his cheek on top of her head, puts his arms around her shoulder in a half-hug, and pulls her closer. She cries into his warmth.

"We've got all the time in the world for you to learn," He says uncomfortingly.

(But it's okay, because she's not a princess and she doesn't need unrealistic words. He won't tell her that it's going to be perfectly fine from here on out, he doesn't tell her not to worry, because until she gets acquainted with death nothing is going to be okay and she will always worry. In the end, it is his uncomforting words of realism that are a comfort to her, because there is someone to help her through this convoluted mess of time and shadows.

So maybe, this will be okay, because she won't be in the Reaper's grip alone.)

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End file.
